Norfolk - Stalham

STALHAM is a parish and market town, with station on the Eastern and Midlands railway, and is a polling-place in the Northern division of the county,
pleasantly situated on the high road from North Walsham to Yarmouth, and on the navigable Ant, over which is Wayford bridge; from the former place it is miles south-east, and from the latter 16 north-west and 15 miles from Norwich, in Happing hundred, Smallburgh union, North Walsham county court district
, rural deanery of Waxham, archdeaconry of Norfolk and diocese of Norwich. The church of St. Mary is of flint and stone, and is a fine old building, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles and south porch a new chancel was built in 1827, and the nave and aisles were repaired in 1854 when the church was reseated: in 1872 the church was fully restored with new porch, floors and windows in the aisles: the font is vry fine, and was restored in 1860 by the vicar; it has representations of the Apostles and Baptism of our Saviour, all finely carved: there is an organ, and a brass to the Riches fanily, dated 1624: the tower, which is square and contains 1 bell, has been injured by lightning. The register dates from the year 1569. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £194, with residence and 34 acres of glebe, of which 8½ are in the parish, in the gift of the Rev. James White. and held since 1852 by the Rev. Joseph Neville White B.A. of Corpus Christ College, Cambridge, who resides in the vicarage, adjoining the church. Here are Wesleyan and Bapist chapels. The poor have allotments to a considrable extent. The public charities are John Riches', producing £29, and invested in the hands of the vicar and churchwardens, and another producing about £24. The rier Ant affords facilities for landing coal, corn, malt and all other kinds of merchandise; Stalham and Sutton Broads form a sheet of water connected with this rver, three-quarters of a mile from south-west to north-east, and 1 mile from west to east: it is mostly overgrown with reeds, but there are two channels, one to Stalham and the other to Sutton. Here is a Corn Hall, a Lecture Room and a Police Station. Tuesday is the market day. The parish consists of two manors; Edward Cooke esq.of Stalham, is lord of the manor of Linford and Wilds, and George Randall Johnson esq, is lord of the manor of Stalham Hall and chief impropriator of the rectorial tithes, which amount to £363, and are divided amongst eight impropriators. The principal landownes are the Rev. James White, and the trustees of Robert Cooke esq. and George Randall Johnson esq. The soil is fine strong land; subsoil, brick-earth. The chief crops are wheat, oats and barlwy, roots and beans. The area is 1,792 acres; rateable value, £4,071; an the population in 1881 was 852.